The Federal Housing Finance Agency moved this week to formalize an anti-fraud initiative it rolled out some 16 months ago that requires Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks to notify the agency forthwith of fraudulent activity by a GSE-associated individual or company. The interim final rule published in the Oct. 23 Federal Register generally codifies the procedures under the FHFA’s existing Suspended Counterparty Program, established in June 2012, with a request for public comment.

The Federal Home Loan Bank System is suffering from a public image problem. It doesn’t have much of one and what the public, and more importantly policymakers, don’t know about the 12 regional FHLBanks and/or their 7,600 member owners could hurt them, according to the American Bankers Association. The problem for the FHLBanks the trade group noted in its most recent edition of ABA Federal Home Loan Bank Member Insights is that the low profile which has served the Bank system so well in the past has become a “sizable policy risk” as relatively few people who will be directing housing finance reform know or understand just what the FHLBanks do.

The “public voice” of the Federal Home Loan Bank system is calling on policymakers to remember the 12 regional banks as proposals are considered to restructure the nation’s housing finance system. A recently issued one-page “position paper” by the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks lists a set of nine positions the 12 have collectively adopted to remind official Washington that the system has “operated prudently and served as a mechanism for economic stability” for more than 80 years.

After an eight-year hiatus, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco announced last week it would renew its participation in the Mortgage Partnership Finance program, which is managed by the FHLBank of Chicago. Starting in 2014, the San Francisco Bank will purchase conventional, conforming fixed-rate mortgages and FHA/VA products, as well as purchase fixed-rate loans from its members for sale to Fannie Mae through the MPF Xtra program.

GSEs Issue Government Shutdown Guidance. Freddie Mac this week followed Fannie Mae in issuing new, temporary guidelines to servicers and sellers of single-family mortgages as the nation began its second week of the government shutdown. The GSEs have temporarily revised their selling guidelines to permit lenders to verify Social Security and IRS transcripts after the closing but before the delivery date of the loan.“Servicers can offer unemployment forbearance to borrowers that have a financial hardship as a result of the shutdown and must suspend credit reporting for those borrowers,” said Fannie.

HUD Delays Implementation of Short-Sale Participation Requirement. The implementation of the PFS Participation Requirement, which is found in Mortgagee Letter 2013-23, Updated Pre-Foreclosure Sale and Deed-in-Lieu-of-Foreclosure Requirements, has been delayed indefinitely. All other provisions included in the mortgagee letter remain in effect. Previous guidance on short-sale participation requirements also remain in effect until further notice. FHA to Consolidate Lender ID Numbers. The FHA will consolidate the lender identification numbers of those participating in both the FHA Title I and Title II programs, provided ...

The Federal Reserve’s relentless acquisition of agency MBS has been the biggest factor in the changing complexion of the MBS investor picture, far outstripping the tortoise-like pace at which the market has expanded this year. The Fed increased its agency MBS holdings by 12.8 percent during the second quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS profile of investor classes in the mortgage securities market. The central bank added $137.2 billion to its agency MBS holdings during the quarter, and its gross acquisitions totaled $466.6 billion since the beginning of the year. That represented...[Includes two data charts]

The 12 Federal Home Loan Banks saw a hefty 9.6 percent increase in the volume of advances outstanding during the second quarter of 2013, but the outlook for the FHLBank’s primary money-maker remains cloudy. (Includes one data chart.)

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week issued a final rule requiring annual stress tests for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks, as mandated under the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago has announced a partnership with Ginnie Mae to issue securities guaranteed by the secondary market agency and backed by home loans originated by member financial institutions. The new conduit product, “MPF Government Mortgage-Backed Securities,” provides another secondary mortgage market outlet for lenders originating mortgages insured by the FHA or guaranteed by the VA or the Rural Housing Service. Low-volume lenders that currently lack direct access to the secondary market are expected to benefit from the new FHLBank program. MPF GMBS would allow lenders to ... [1 chart]